Promise
by Ebona Nite
Summary: ONESHOT: Where did Zelgadis get that red gem cloak pin he always wears? Find out here! PreSlayers, Lina and Zelgadis meet for the first time. Sort of LinaZel.


_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Slayers! or any of these characters. Woe is me!_

**Promise**

By Ebona Nite

Lina Inverse, beautiful sorceress extraordinaire, sped off down the road ready to make a name for herself. The small red-haired girl was only fourteen, but that was as good an age as any to start adventuring. She was talented after all, and bound to become the best sorceress ever! There was no need to stay at home where all she'd do would be a waitress at the family inn.

That, and her sister Luna would kill her for breaking that set of dishes if she went back.

Two days traveling down the road, and she finally ran into someone. Literally.

"Hey! Watch where you're going you big oaf!"

"Me?! Maybe you shouldn't be looking off the side of the road while you're walking, little girl!"

"Little?! Why you - !" she glared at him. He was about her age, maybe a year or two older. He had wrapped himself in a beige cloak that seemed a bit too large for him, as if he was cold. It kept sliding off his shoulders as he glared back.

Cerulean met ruby. Lina tried not to blush. The guy was cute! Then she remembered what he had called her.

"Hey – I'm not little! Take this! FIREBALL!"

One large explosion later and the boy pulled his somewhat charred body out of a crater to face the smug redheaded sorceress.

"There! That'll teach to you too go around calling beautiful sorceresses little girls! And I'll fireball you again if you call me that again, even if you are cute!" Lina slapped a hand over her mouth at this. She hadn't meant that last part to slip out!

The boy's cheeks reddened slightly. "C-cute? B-but I'm not – I mean I'm – but aren't you afraid of me?"

Lina blinked at the boy, and looked him up and down. Sure the blue-ish rocky skin was a bit weird, but…. She gave him a contemptuous look. "My big sister is scarier than you."

The boy (a/n if you haven't guessed who this is yet, you're more oblivious than Gourry!) gaped at her. She really wasn't scared! Or disgusted for that matter. She looked at him as if he was a normal, albeit annoying, everyday kid. A strange, warm, bubbly feeling rose inside him. Without quite knowing it, this was the beginnings of his first crush. He swallowed, and shoved the odd feeling away.

"Hey, what's your name?"

"I'm Lina Inverse, beautiful sorceress extraordinaire!" Lina grinned, "So what's your's?"

"Zelgadis Greywords." Zelgadis shifted, suddenly uncomfortable in her smile, and pulled the cloak around him again. There was a black tie at the throat, but the weight of the cloak kept pulling it loose.

"Say, what's the deal with that cloak anyway?" Lina asked suddenly. "It looks ready to fall off you there!"

"Oh… the cloak pin broke. I – I can't really afford a new one." Zelgadis' head drooped. He couldn't buy a new pin, or much of anything, because shopkeepers generally through the "monster" out right away. But he wasn't going to say that.

"Oh…" Lina fished inside her pocket. "Well here, I've got an extra. You can borrow it. But it's my lucky pin, so you'd better give it back when you finish whatever you're doing." It was a bit large, a round red gem as bright as her eyes.

"O-okay. Thanks!" Zelgadis smiled hesitantly back as he took the pin, and hooked the cloak just at his throat. The black tie hung down below it, and stayed tied this time. "So… I guess this means we'll be seeing each other again?"

"Yeah! One day I'll be known world-wide! I'll be amazing! The best sorceress in the world! And you – what are you doing anyway?"

"I'm looking for my cure."

"For what?" Lina looked blank. Zelgadis blinked. Had she really not noticed? It wasn't like he was wearing a mask, as he hadn't expected to meet anybody before the next town.

"For my… condition." He said, not wanting to reveal more.

"Oh… well then one day you'll be cured or whatever, and I'll be famous, and then you can buy your own cloak clasp and give mine back! So of course we'll meet again. That's a promise!"

Zelgadis smiled at the first true friend he had. T would be a few years before they met again, and much longer before he'd be able to give the pin back, but it gave him hope, a goal for the future beyond what seemed an almost hopeless quest. It gave him something to look forward to.

"Yes," the young chimera said, "it's a promise."

**The End**


End file.
